M$ speed bumps

[leedspaddy]

1 hour ago, mec said:

What kind of MS... meaning what retailer sold you GCs and in what volume on the Barclays account?

 

I think when it is said that "closed by grantor" has no effect, it is meant that it won't effect your credit score negativity any more than a "closed by customer" would. It is always possible that a large number of closed accounts could be factored into credit decisions by an algorithm or a human. 

I was doing anywhere from 10 -15K a month on Barclays. I also don't have many options where I live to buy GCs using a credit card except my local grocery chain so I have been using that same vendor to buy the GCs.....so does getting shut down burn all bridges with that creditor going forward???

[leedspaddy]

29 minutes ago, Konrad2012 said:

Call the credit agencies and have the notations changed to closed by customer 

So I don't have to file a dispute to get the notations changed then?  Shouldn't I also just get the notations deleted instead of changed to "closed by consumer" as I would be surprised if the credit bureaus would even let me do that? Also won't the notations just get changed back when barclays reports......or will they stop reporting as soon as the balance is zero  and there is no further activity seeing as they shut me down when I had a balance?

[mec]

2 hours ago, leedspaddy said:

I was doing anywhere from 10 -15K a month on Barclays. I also don't have many options where I live to buy GCs using a credit card except my local grocery chain so I have been using that same vendor to buy the GCs.....so does getting shut down burn all bridges with that creditor going forward???

Thanks for the additional information. 

 

I don't know if it's a universal permanent thing or if it varies from lender to lender. I've heard some stories of people not getting approved or of getting approved and then having those accounts closed within a few months... but I don't think they were Barclays accounts I was reading about.

[leedspaddy]

A question

 

I can do 10-15K a month on each of my 4 MS-centric cards (now 3). Obviously the creditors don't like customers who pay them no interest and builds up the rewards. Outside of stopping MS, would spreading my MS over more cards thus lowering the amount I charge to any one particular creditor make me less of a target for shutdown?

When it came to Barclays, I honestly thought (wrongly as it turned out) that if I mixed in a lot of regular spending, they would ignore my MS, which they did for 3 years until last week.

 

So does anyone have any recommendations for cards I could apply for that are potentially MS-sort-of-friendly to replace my Barclays.....in other words don't shut you down instantly. 

[morpheus0327]

Ever since Winn Dixie made changes to their business in my city (one store closed, leaving only one open), getting a $500 visa GC got increasingly difficult. Apparently they even made some changes to their checkout software. New employees have joined this lone store in my city that sells $500 gcs which worked great for RS as I was using them so far.

Now they ask for cash or debit for payment. Former employees stay aloof while someone makes visa Gc purchases...

Seems I'll have to widen my territory.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[mec]

Got a sad email from Dosh today.

 

"Hi mec,

Thank you for using the Cash Back Multiplier to share Dosh with your friends and family! As we continue to grow, we’ve made some changes to the app.

We wanted to give you a heads up that, as of this morning, we are temporarily disabling the Cash Back Multiplier feature in order to provide you with the best possible sharing experience.

We are excited about the new enhancements we’re currently working on to build an even easier and more rewarding way for you to share Dosh.

In the meantime, be sure to check out our existing cash back offers at thousands of nearby stores and restaurants.

If you have any additional questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at Dosh Support.

Thanks so much for supporting Dosh!

The Dosh Team"

[TampaDude]

On 7/22/2018 at 7:44 PM, morpheus0327 said:

Ever since Winn Dixie made changes to their business in my city (one store closed, leaving only one open), getting a $500 visa GC got increasingly difficult. Apparently they even made some changes to their checkout software. New employees have joined this lone store in my city that sells $500 gcs which worked great for RS as I was using them so far.

Now they ask for cash or debit for payment. Former employees stay aloof while someone makes visa Gc purchases...

Seems I'll have to widen my territory.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 

Yup...the doors are closing left and right.  Just this afternoon, I hit the remaining Walmart in my town that still let me buy Green Dots at $500 a pop with a CC.  Ran the card as usual and it auto-cancelled the transaction.  The register printed a small receipt that basically stated I had to use cash or debit.  CCs were okay there a week ago, but no longer.  They must have updated their software.  Guess I'll have to start widening my hunt in order to feed my freebie machine.

 

[hyschmied]

11 hours ago, TampaDude said:

Yup...the doors are closing left and right.  Just this afternoon, I hit the remaining Walmart in my town that still let me buy Green Dots at $500 a pop with a CC.  Ran the card as usual and it auto-cancelled the transaction.  The register printed a small receipt that basically stated I had to use cash or debit.  CCs were okay there a week ago, but no longer.  They must have updated their software.  Guess I'll have to start widening my hunt in order to feed my freebie machine.

 

Yeah, all Walmarts around me just became hardcoded against purchasing vgc with a cc as of yesterday. That sucks as options in my rural area are few and far between. 

[mec]

I was making out a deposit slip today and I noticed that one of the series of money orders had a $500 value instead of the usual $499.21. I swung by the customer service desk of the supermarket that sold it to me to pay them the $0.79 I owed them. The manager was there and she asked "Was that yesterday?... that explains why my money orders were off." She then said "You know what, you can keep it for being honest... buy a cup of coffee." I told her "I didn't drive all the way over here to not give you 79 cents... you have a great day" and left it where it was sitting on the counter. Hopefully that buys me some good will there.

[cv91915]

On 7/26/2018 at 9:26 AM, mec said:

I was making out a deposit slip today and I noticed that one of the series of money orders had a $500 value instead of the usual $499.21. I swung by the customer service desk of the supermarket that sold it to me to pay them the $0.79 I owed them. The manager was there and she asked "Was that yesterday?... that explains why my money orders were off." She then said "You know what, you can keep it for being honest... buy a cup of coffee." I told her "I didn't drive all the way over here to not give you 79 cents... you have a great day" and left it where it was sitting on the counter. Hopefully that buys me some good will there.

Who sells coffee for 79 cents a cup?

[mec]

On 7/27/2018 at 6:11 PM, cv91915 said:

Who sells coffee for 79 cents a cup?

I wonder if it was meant to be a euphemism for "buy yourself half of a dead rat from a deranged hobo".

[steelers1]

29 minutes ago, mec said:

I wonder if it was meant to be a euphemism for "buy yourself half of a dead rat from a deranged hobo".

That will cost you at least a $1.00 😛

[mec]

21 hours ago, steelers1 said:

That will cost you at least a $1.00 😛

I guess you are right.

 

Probably the only thing you can buy these days for 79 cents is an extra principal payment on cv's mortgage.

[mec]

 1Q

[cv91915]

12 hours ago, mec said:

I guess you are right.

 

Probably the only thing you can buy these days for 79 cents is an extra principal payment on cv's mortgage.

The smallest individual item that's queued up for tomorrow's mortgage payment is a $5.00 bonus from Bank of America for using four of their spending offers within X amount of time.

[mec]

2 hours ago, cv91915 said:

The smallest individual item that's queued up for tomorrow's mortgage payment is a $5.00 bonus from Bank of America for using four of their spending offers within X amount of time.

I couldn't get past one deal, so I never got the five bucks. I just checked and they expired that "coin" so I'm back to zero.

 

I'd be willing to bet you couldn't pass up a tenth of a penny on that 79 cents if it came into your orbit though.

[cv91915]

9 hours ago, mec said:

I couldn't get past one deal, so I never got the five bucks. I just checked and they expired that "coin" so I'm back to zero.

 

I'd be willing to bet you couldn't pass up a tenth of a penny on that 79 cents if it came into your orbit though.

The coins are kind of silly, but I do get regular use from the offers.  

 

Amex Offers are more lucrative, but I'm not going to turn down $12 back on a $120 Lowe's purchase (of Amazon gift cards).

 

I would pay extra fractional cents on the mortgage if there was a way to collect them and apply them to the account balance.  Any tips?

[Konrad2012]

On 7/27/2018 at 3:11 PM, cv91915 said:

Who sells coffee for 79 cents a cup?

StarCucks refills are $0.50.  With a StarCucks Gold card they are free.  I'd guess you could take the same cup back day after day for free refills. 

[leedspaddy]

Hey folks, any chance you could give me a heads up on any MS-friendly cards I could get to replace the barclays I just lost. I was thinking of applying for AMEX again just to see if they have taken me of their blacklist and if a miracle happens in that they have become my friend again are they a good company to MS on or not.....and by good I mean that they don't shut you down immediately at the first hint of MS. Aside from Amex, I would appreciate any suggestions for anyone else I should look at for MSing?

[Konrad2012]

57 minutes ago, leedspaddy said:

Hey folks, any chance you could give me a heads up on any MS-friendly cards I could get to replace the barclays I just lost. I was thinking of applying for AMEX again just to see if they have taken me of their blacklist and if a miracle happens in that they have become my friend again are they a good company to MS on or not.....and by good I mean that they don't shut you down immediately at the first hint of MS. Aside from Amex, I would appreciate any suggestions for anyone else I should look at for MSing?

As long as you don't MS the sign up bonuses for AMEX, you can do anything you want with them.

 

You were only MSing Barclays @ supermarkets for 2%, so you don't have a very high bar set for yourself.  Alliant 3%, NFCU AMEX 3%, Golden1 3% are all better than what you had.  Citi DC and PayPal MC are both 2% so just as good as you had. 

[leedspaddy]

7 minutes ago, Konrad2012 said:

As long as you don't MS the sign up bonuses for AMEX, you can do anything you want with them.

 

You were only MSing Barclays @ supermarkets for 2%, so you don't have a very high bar set for yourself.  Alliant 3%, NFCU AMEX 3%, Golden1 3% are all better than what you had.  Citi DC and PayPal MC are both 2% so just as good as you had. 

HI Konrad, your insight is much appreciated, I will take a look at the 3% cards you mentioned. Stupid question though, if I am getting a card specifically for MS,  how am I supposed to avoid getting the sign up bonuses....Do I avoid cards with sign up bonuses or just not MS on the card until I meet the bonus through regular spend or become ineligible for the bonus?????...the sign up bonuses are nice to have but not as important to me as finding a card  for MS that pays at least 2% and doesn't have a tendency to shut you down. 

[Konrad2012]

3 hours ago, leedspaddy said:

HI Konrad, your insight is much appreciated, I will take a look at the 3% cards you mentioned. Stupid question though, if I am getting a card specifically for MS,  how am I supposed to avoid getting the sign up bonuses....Do I avoid cards with sign up bonuses or just not MS on the card until I meet the bonus through regular spend or become ineligible for the bonus?????...the sign up bonuses are nice to have but not as important to me as finding a card  for MS that pays at least 2% and doesn't have a tendency to shut you down. 

Some SUB's can be valuable.  50,000MR's can be worth $650-x,xxx depending on how they are used.  On a 2% card I'd guess you're only netting 0.75% in profits.  So for $10K your making $75.  That SUB has a value of 8 months of your MS profits.

 

I'm pretty sure VGC's from a grocery store still count towards AMEX SUB's.  But Simon Mall, Macerich, online gift card sites don't.

 

You should get a Freedom 5% and a Discover 5% as well if you don't have them already.

[mec]

21 hours ago, cv91915 said:

 

 

...

I would pay extra fractional cents on the mortgage if there was a way to collect them and apply them to the account balance.  Any tips?

The fractional cents I was referencing were the expected savings on a $0.79 principal payment  on a ~2% / 12 interest rate.

 

Which reminds me...  need to audit my small expenses and patch my leaks.

[leedspaddy]

This isn't a MS speed Bump comment or question but I thought it would belong in this particular forum. I save all my actual gift cards, MO slips and all transaction receipts connected to the MS process. The thing is, I am building quite a pile of this essential documentation. If the worst scenario was ever to happen and the IRS wanted to see the evidence of my MS would they accept electronic scans of everything or do I need to hold onto the actual physical evidence for the 7 years regardless if scan the gift cards and receipts??

[leedspaddy]

Question for Konrad.......I was just wondering how you treat a new credit card obtained specifically for MS. I ask this in the context of my new Alliant credit card that you recommended that I have actually been a little timid with after getting shutdown by Barclays and not knowing whether Alliant generally cares or not. For this month it actually worked out that I was a little reluctant to MS on it because 3 days after getting the card the statement closed which surprised me....I was not happy about it as they reported a balance though it could have been a lot worse I guess had they closed the statement after I ramped up the MS.... they didn't give any indication of when the statement would close when I opened it,  just the first payment due date that is next month and so I naturally assumed that the close date would have been around then as most of all my credit cards I have ever opened seem to operate that way.

 

At 3% cash back for the first year and then 2.5% thereafter, I want to find that balance of hitting the card enough to make it worthwhile while not losing it to a shutdown.....hence my question on how you approach new cards. Thanks